This invention relates generally to the field of wheel chair accessories and more specifically to a wheel chair lifting device.
Disabled or injured persons sometimes to not have proper use of their legs and therefore need the assistance of a wheel chair. Occasionally, the injured or disabled person needs to be lifted to a higher elevation for example when needing to be transferred to a medical exam table, or to be transferred into a vehicle. Prior to the present invention, moving patients from a wheelchair at a first elevation to a bed or gurney at second or higher elevation required the healthcare staff to physically lift the patient from the wheelchair to the bed or gurney. This moving process requires much physical exertion and can put both the staff member and the patient at risk for injury. There remains a need to provide an apparatus to raise the wheelchair to the same elevation or a slightly higher elevation to facilitate the transfer of the patient to or from the bed or gurney, exam table, X ray table, or even a chair.
Various wheel chair lifts have been developed, such as the one patented by Ingamar Svenson in his U.S. Pat. No. 4,958,979 that is mounted within a van type vehicle and extends out of the vehicle and down to the ground, for the wheel chair to roll onto and be lifted into the van. However, the Svensson invention is rather heavy and requires a significant support structure that is mounted within the van. There are times when it would be very helpful to have the use of a wheel chair lifter that is relatively light weight and portable so that is can be conveyed to any location where a wheel chair can be easily rolled onto a lift and the lift can raise to the desired height to transport a person from the wheel chair to another location such as an exam table or vehicle. Additionally, it would be helpful if the lifting device included a foot standing platform so that the user can be helped to stand on the raised platform when being transferred to another location.